Of Swords and Dragons
by JustADreamer24
Summary: Part of the Annabeth World. What does a normal day in the life of our characters look like? You know action can never be out of the picture for them so how exactly will problems arise for Danny, Steve, Annabeth AND Grace? If you're looking to be entertained and have a good time reading, step inside and have some fun with the new adventure that awaits our favorite characters!
1. Chapter 1

**Hello my dear readers! Welcome to this new story! I did tell you I would post new material soon right? Well... here it is!**

 **This is part of the Annabeth's World so, for those of you reading a story of mine for the first time, I recommend you read the previous ones to get an idea of who the OC character is. In publishing order the stories are:**

 **Unexpected Events (in progress)**

 **Complicated Situations (Complete)**

 **What in the world? (Complete)**

 **I guess you can read them in whatever order you want. I would caution you about the second story though. It has a mature content and is not really necessary to read that one to understand the main storyline i'm developing. So, Unexpected Events and What in the World should suffice.**

 **For those of you kind enough to return to this world, I want to thank you for your constant support and acceptance of the storyline i've created.**

 **I know there are some mysteries from the other stories that still haven't been resolved... let's see if we can find some answers in this one, shall we? By the way, this new story takes place almost a year after the first one (What in the world)**

 **I want to dedicate this chapter to my dear friend Aquababy58, in celebration for the great news you received today!**

 **As always, I hope you find this story interesting and entertaining!**

 **Here it goes! Enjoy!**

\- Come on Danno, please?! – begged his daughter Grace while giving him the sad puppy eyes.

\- But... Seriously? A museum exhibition of the dark and terrible middle ages? – he asked incredolous not sure where his monkey had gotten the taste for that kind of stuff. " _Definitely from her mother_ " he thought.

\- Not all of it is considered a dark age Danny. It's actually pretty interesting! – commented Annabeth clearly taking Grace's side on this one.

\- Is it true that Arthur became a king because he pulled a sword out of a stone? – asked Grace turning to Annabeth for the answer since she seemed as interested as she was about next week's new exhibition at the museum.

\- Well... i think there're two versions of the story. One says he was an orphaned kid who stumbled upong the Wizard Merlin and was able to pull the legendary sword Excalibur from a stone while he was just a boy. And the other one actually refers to him as the rightful heir to the throne who was trained by the wizard to be the best prince and knight he could be for when it was his turn to be a king. I don't know which one is the real one though – finished Annabeth while smiling at Grace's interest in the subject. Finally, Steve decided to intervene.

\- Well... I guess we're gonna have to go to the museum and find out what really happened.

\- You too? – asked Danny – why would you even be interested in that? It's history and it might as well be fiction because it's possible the story never happened but was made up by some guy trying to impress a lady making himself pass as a "knight of the round table" – he said making quote gestures with his fingers.

\- Of course it must have happened! – exclaimed Grace – there's a reason why it's so famous!

\- I'm with you there Gracie. The story has to be founded on some base of reality – agreed Annabeth.

\- Don't worry Gracie, if Danno doesn't take you, i will – stated Steve with as much conviction as his voice could muster.

\- Don't forget about me! I want to go too! – Annabeth added, excited because she loved spending time with Grace and now there was an activity they could look forward to do together.

\- Of course not! – confirmed Grace and they all smiled.

\- I don't have a choice, do i? – asked Danny while picking up a french fry from his plate and giving it a bite. Steve clapped him on the shoulder.

\- It'll be fun Danno! – was his last comment before giving his burger a gigantic bite. Both girls laughed when all the sauce came flowing out of the burger and seemed to never stop dripping into his plate.

\- You know... For a guy who measures every calory before profaning his body with unhealthy food, you sure don't hold back on the ketchup! – Danny told him while passing him a napking.

\- Enks! – tried to answer Steve with his mouth full of his first bite to the double meat, double cheese, double size and pretty much double everything hamburguer.

\- Neanderthal – muttered Danny before giving his own burger a decent bite. After a few seconds of chewing and three almost painful looking swalows from Steve, he said.

\- Well, if i'm gonna profane my body with junk food only once a month, i might as well do it right – and he drank a few sips of his diet coke. Yeah, because he was mindful of the calories and sugar levels on his drink while eating the personification of fatness he was currently holding in his hands! Thought Danny to himself.

\- I really don't know how you do it – said Annabeth – even after a year, i just don't understand how you can have that much willpower and never ever eat anything out of order or line until the end of the month – Steve was actually going to answer that but someone else beat him to it.

\- Because he's a control freak! That's what control freaks do, right Uncle Steve? – they all stared at Grace but Annabeth was the only one left in tears after laughing her soul out. Steve looked outraged and Danny was getting a bit red around the cheeks.

\- You actually put that idea in her mind, didn't you?! – Steve asked Danny, surprisingly really annoyed – why would you do that?

\- What? – asked Danny as well – it's not like it's a big secret! Besides, the first day you met her i told you we commiserated about it. It's a father-daughter thing!

\- Wait, wait, wait... So Steve's control issues come from before meeting you guys? – asked Annabeth.

\- Where else would they have come from? Since day one he was all: " _I'm smart, you're dumb. I'm big, you're little. I'm right, you're wrong. And there's nothing you can do about it!_ "

\- Danno! – exclaimed Grace – have you been watching _Matilda_ again?

\- You watch that? – asked a baffled Steve.

\- And you actually know what _is_ that? – asked Danny right back at him.

\- What's the problem with that? It's a good movie! – defended Annabeth, actually for the both of them.

\- Can we please get back to the subject at hand please? Control freak SuperSEAL over there? – Danny asked. Said SuperSEAL sent him a glare and then turned to Grace.

\- Don't listen to what he says Gracie. I don't have control issues.

\- If you say so Uncle Steve…

\- What is that supposed to mean? – he asked her. Suddenly Grace seemed really interested in the chicken nuggets she was eating and put a whole big piece in her mouth while starting to chew on it – Grace? – asked Steve again. Danny then sent a look towards Annabeth telling her to pay attention to what was about to be said.

\- Weeeeeelll – she started after swallowing the chicken and dragging out the word – last week Danno's fridge was full of pictures and drawings; they were all messy and on top of each other and you spent almost an hour putting them in order! They were pictures, they didn't need to be organized by size, color AND subject!

\- Face it buddy, you have control issues – said Danny, patting him on the shoulder like he was giving him the diagnosis of a terrible disease.

\- And maybe a little bit of an obsessive compulsive disorder too – added Annabeth, cracking up on the last words and starting to laugh again. " _Man, it felt so good to laugh_ " She thought.

\- There's nothing wrong with categorization. Organize things into logical patterns and you make your life easier. Trust me, you're all wasting precious minutes of your life every day because you don't gather your things into a practical and functional order.

\- And now we all know why you were so valuable working in naval intelligence – mocked Danny.

\- Knock it off Danny – Steve replied while digging into his food again. At this rate, they were going to spend at least three hours in the restaurant.

\- Whatever you say Lancelot, whatever you say – and he went for his burger too.

\- So you _do_ know the story? – asked Annabeth.

\- It's not like i know, _know_ the story. I think i saw a movie once.

\- Then going to the museum would really help you get the dust off the history books in your mind – she replied.

\- I'm telling you, it's fiction. There's no way a kid became king by pulling a sword out of a stone. A wizard with a long beard and a pointy hat? Dragons? No way…

\- Who said there were dragons? – asked Steve.

\- The movie had dragons okay? It was a movie!

\- I still think it's interesting – commented Grace a little shyly because, truth be told, she had lost her way in the conversation when her Uncle Steve had started talking about logic and organization and patterns.

\- Then we'll go to the exhibition – determined Steve.

\- Hey! Hey! She's still my daughter, so it's my decision to make!

\- Actually… your monkey here is like Five-0's little pet. So we all have a say in the matter – Danny looked at him like he had lost his mind.

\- What are you even talking about? – he asked – and i thought we already had a pet.

\- Yeah… I thought _I_ was Five-0's pet – intervened Annabeth.

\- Oh no! You're Five-0's secret weapon – Steve answered dropping his tone of voice to flare up the dramatic.

\- Oh great! Now he's getting all dark and mysterious. You know, this middle dark age must have been a perfect fit for you. Maybe you would have been happier swinging swords and slaying dragons.

\- Again, Danny. The middle ages weren't all considered the dark ages – said Annabeth rolling her eyes.

\- Yeah well… none of them had electricity, so that makes it all a dark age to me – everyone just laughed at that.

It was an early friday afternoon and they were currently working on zero cases, and since it was Danny's weekend with Grace, they had all gone to pick her up from school and taken her to eat a late lunch (or an early dinner, depending on who's point of view) to the place that was currently witnessing Steve's unhealthy way of eating his burger, Danny's accusations of history, Annabeth's out of character laugh and Grace's joy. And, considering the rate at which they were actually eating their food while talking about such a sensible matter as it is the confrontation between fiction and reality, they were reaching their second hour sitting at the table.

In the end it was decided they would all go with Grace to the museum for the new exhibition next week thinking Danny could really use some history lessons to get his information together. Steve was glad he would be spending time with Grace because he loved every second of the time Danny shared his baby girl with the rest of the world. Annabeth was content with having such a normal activity to do with the people that were slowly but surely becoming like a family for her. And Grace was just happy she was going to dig into a subject she was really interested in with the help of her beloved Danno, Annabeth and Uncle Steve.

 **There you have it! First chapter! I tried to take a shot at writing humor and I really hope it managed to put a smile on your faces. Do you think it worked? Let me know what you thought of this chapter and what you think will happen in this story! I'm always curious to know your opinions!**

 **I'm already working on chapter number two, so it shouldn't be too long befoe I post it. I just want to have as much fun as I can while writing this!**

 **Well... remember to please leave a review! Pretty, pretty please?**

 **Until next chapter!**


	2. Chapter 2

**And here's chapter 2!**

 **Thank you so much to those who reviewed (Aquababy58 and Stephanie) it's so good to have you on board of this story! Texas50Fan, welcome to another story as well!**

 **The main purspose of this story is to enternain all of you and provide you with a few minutes per chater to get your mind off things and just have a good read! I hpe I can accomplish that!**

 **Enjoy the chapter while I go write some more!**

\- Monkey, I promise you, we're gonna make it before the museum closes for the day – Danny said to his daughter who was edging from her seat in the back of the Camaro.

\- Where are Annabeth and Uncle Steve? They said they wanted to come with us! – complained Grace, still a little dissapointed from when his dad had shown up to pick her up and he had been alone. Not that she didn't like spending time alone with him, but they had all been so excited about this museum visit.

\- Uncle Steve had to wrap some things up from the case but they're gonna meet us there monkey, alright? We're not gonna miss this.

The reason why Grace was so anxious was because today was the last day of the medieval exhibition they had been planing to go to since last week, and since Five-0 had caught a case early in the week, they hadn't had time to go earlier. To top it all off, this was the only day of the week when the museum closed earlier than the rest of the normal working day hours. In fact, they had almost lost all hope of making it in time to the exhibition at all because until barely a couple of hours before, they weren't making such a good progress with the case until, finally, they had gotten lucky and found a lead that pointed towards the master mind behind a hit that had taken place down town.

When he got nearer to the museaum, he slowed the speed of the car down. He entered the parking lot and started looking for a spot to park, finding one near the entrance.

\- Come on Danno, hurry up! – urged Grace once the engine of the Camaro had been turned off.

\- Alright, alright. I'm coming – she took him by the arm and proceeded to drag him to the front door. It was barely an hour before closing time and the lack of people coming in and out of the place was overwhelming. They approached the main counter where a pettite hawaian girl was in charge of selling the tickets for the exhibition – Hi – greeted Danny – Can I have two tickets please?

\- Four – interrupted Grace firmly.

\- What? – asked Danny.

\- For Annabeth and Uncle Steve! What if they don't make it in time to buy the tickets? This way, we'll have them already – he could see how serious his daughter was and knew there was no getting out of the spot. He rolled his eyes.

\- Alright but you're collecting the money from Steve. There's no way my wallet's gonna suffer for him – finally they got the four tickets and a kind reminder that the place was about to close in roughly an hour and that they needed to be quick with their visit.

\- Look! There they are! – exclaimed an excited Grace while running towards the approaching pair – you made it Uncle Steve!

\- You bet we did! – he said while pulling her up into his arms.

\- Hi Gracie! – Annabeth greeted her and they high fived each other – are we ready for this then?

\- Yes! Yes! Let's go in! They're closing soon!

Steve set Grace on the floor and this time she took Annabeth's hand to walk together into the museum. The first sight that greeted them was a huge banner advertising the medieval exhibition on the right wing. They followed the signs and arrived to a medium size oval room full with different objects and stories written all over the walls; every item had a written explanation in both english and hawaian.

They started the tour at the very beginning where the written paragraphs on the wall explained how the Middle Ages started with the fall of the Roman Empire. It described how society was ruled; the role of men and women, their custome, daily activities and beliefs.

There were around ten to twelve other people, not counting the museum workers, making their way through the various exhibits and generally enjoying the tour and explanations of a good piece of history. Eventually they made it to one of the most interesting parts of the exhibition: the weapons. They stepped into a small room that easily accomodated rows and rows of every rudimentary weapon you could think off.

\- Wow! – exclaimed Grace – this is so cool! – and she wondered off with Annabeth to check on some swords displayed by their different shapes.

\- Look at this Grace! - Annabeth said, signaling to a wooden bow and a quiver of arrows – it's so well preserved! I love bows and arrows! – if they didn't know better, they could have sworn they were listening to a kid talk excitedly about her new christmas present. Danny chuckled and then started walking with Steve alongside the wall while his partner obviously delighted his sight with the assortment of knives and daggers.

\- You see? – Danny told Steve – this is what i'm talking about. You two _must_ be related somehow – just like everytime his partner brought up the subject, Steve's head would shot up and his heart would start to beat faster with the possibility of someone finding out the secret.

\- Why do you say that? – he asked trying to pass as nonchalant.

\- I mean look at her! No one I know, apart from you, gets that excited about walking into a room full of antique weapons. She sounds like my daughter whenever I let her have icecream for breakfast.

\- You do that? – asked Steve disapprovingly, also trying to change the subject.

\- Sometimes – was Danny's simple reply. He had forgotten about their conversation when he concentrated on Grace's laughter about something Annabeth must have said. He love his baby girl so much he sometimes needed a few minutes to just contemplate how lucky he was to have her.

Steve was glad Danny had dropped the subject.

Ever since Annabeth had officially joined the team, he had been plagued with comments from his partner pointing out the "scary similarities" (as he put them) between Annabeth and him. He always tried to play it cool, specially when she was around to listen; but the fear of getting caught with the lie (or the omission of the truth) always spiked up his heart rate. Could it be possible that Danny knew? Other than the comments, there was no reason to suspect that but, as he had pointed out in the past, his partner had good instincts. Was it possible that he had figured it out and was trying to get the truth out of him?

It had been almost a year since the first case they had worked together and he still hadn't found the right time to tell her. He knew he had exhausted the excuse of waiting to get to know her better, to get her to trust him as a friend first and to let her adjust to working with the team a long time ago; after all, it _had_ been a year.

Suddenly, his partner started talking again.

\- Anyway, as I was saying, only you two could fancy being surrounded by so many weapons.

\- Daddy! – came Grace almost whispering – I need to got to the bathroom...

\- Come on Gracie, i'll take you – offered Steve quickly and taking her hand before anyone knew what had happened, because he wanted to escape Danny's comments and he also didn't want Annabeth to pick up on his reluctance to talk. She was awefully good at it. " _Kind of like Danny, actually_ " he thought. They soon disappeared out of the door to the little weapon's room and went looking for the bathroom. Annabeth then stood closer to Danny.

\- So! What do you think? – she asked him – it's pretty amazing huh?

\- 's not bad... I thought we were going to find out about the stone leyend though – he said while looking around the whole room – or at least see the thing.

\- Well, come on! – she answered while tugging on his sleeve. " _Yep, definitely like a kid_ " he thought to himself although with a smile creeping up his face because it was nice to see her acting more according to her age than like the freaking spy that she was.

If he was honest with himself, he had to admit that after a year, he had grown fond of her. Putting aside her initial smug attitude from when they had first met her, she was actually fun to be around. She had adapted to their life in the Five-0 Task Force and, more importantly, they had adapted to her. Her willingness to take risks, her expertice on the field, her wits when working undercover and her eagerness to help others. All that, combined with a bit of a sense of humor, made her an easy going person and a deathly scary one when the situation called for it. Once every while he still heard that little voice in his head telling him that she was too young to work with them, but she had proven herself time and again with the way she handled the pressure of the job. Eventually, he had accepted it, although that didn't mean he didn't worry.

\- See? Here's a replica of what the sword Excalibur must have looked like inside the stone. It says here that... – suddenly a scream was heard coming from the oval room where the main exhibition was taking place, followed by the sound of something crashing and breaking on the floor. Danny and Annabeth looked at each other and went to inspect what had happened when they heard the sound of a gunshot followed by more screams and a very loud and clear instruction.

\- Everybody get down and stay quiet! Mickey, search that room. I want everybody out here! – came the yell from the voice of a man. Danny and Annabeth immediately crouched down and hid behind a table that looked like a coffin close to the edge of the room and where the Excalibur exhibit was. Danny put his arms protectively on top of her head while making themselves as small as they could just seconds before someone entered the weapon's room and started looking around.

 **Cliffhanger people! Muahahaha!**

 **What do you think is happening out in the oval room? Did Steve and Grace got caught up in the middle of it?**

 **Also, do you think Danny has figured out the trith about Annabeth and Steve or he's being just naively perceptive?**

 **I hope you guys enjoyed the chapter and were left looking forward to what's coming next!**

 **Until next chapter then!**


	3. Chapter 3

**I'm on a row today! Taking advantage of the last free day I have for a while now! So here's chapter 3! I should warn you, I have absolutely no idea how long this story will be... I really don't think it will be that long... but let's see how creative my muse gets while writing the chapters!**

 **In the mean time, I hope you enjoy the little piece of entertainment i'm bringing you for now!**

The man entered the weapon's room but, thankfully, wasn't very thorough with his search. Danny and Annabeth had been the only ones left in the room by the time Steve and Grace had gone to find the bathroom, so with one quick glance, the guy named Mickey went back out announcing that the room was clear.

They made their way quietly out of their hiding place and approached the entrance of the room. Annabeth crouched down again and peeked outside from her hunched position. She could see what was going on in the oval room and things didn't look so good. She stood up again and motioned for Danny to follow her away from the door, hiding behind an exhibit just in case someone decided to come into the room again.

\- Did you see what's going on? Did you see Grace? Is she out there? – Danny asked in a whisper.

\- She's not there. Neither is Steve. Maybe they're still out there looking for the bathroom – she whispered back. The fact that Steve and Grace weren't in the oval room was actually very good news – there are three people with masks gathering everyone else in a circle around them. They have guns. No automatic weapons... – she trailed off when they heard the man that had spoken first to give the search order start speaking again.

\- Alright, listen up! I want cellphones, wallets and everything you've got thrown into the middle of the room. No one calls the police and no one makes a move out of line. Are we clear? – there was actually no verbal answer but they could hear the muffled sound of things being thrown to the floor.

\- Here's the rest of the staff – said another voice and footsteps could be heard approaching the scene.

\- Why don't you all take a seat while we work huh? Now, I believe there's someone missing – at hearing this, Danny and Annabeth thought in fear the man was referring to either them or Steve and Grace, but their minds were soon put at ease – Where's Mr. Andrews? – by now, Annabeth had once again crawled her way to the entrance and peeked from the floor up. Now there were four masked people and a new group of sitting hostages that were all wearing staff uniforms. One of the men, the one doing mostly all the talking, came closer to the pettite hawaian lady that had been selling the tickets outside and asked again – where is Mr. Andrews?

\- I-I don't... I don't kn-know – she answered clearly terrified of even looking up from the floor and into the guy's mask.

\- Well... I need somebody with access to the vault where they keep the original pieces. So, unless any of you happens to have a key, I . need . Mister . Andrews – he finished, pausing after each word in a menacing manner. Still, the room kept quiet – very well, i'm gonna have to go look for him myself – just then, and because the room was so silent, a distant sound came from even beyond the walls of the oval room. A toillet being flushed. Danny's posture went rigid and his eyes widened in fear – maybe he decided to take a leak – and the guy set off to find his prey.

Danny got up from where he had been crouching next to Annabeth and actually struggled with himself whether to go out there or not. Grace was the one in the bathroom and he couldn't let them find her alone in there. And where the hell was Steve?

Annabeth, sensing Danny's distress, put a hand on his chest to prevent him from making any sudden move to leave the room.

\- Calm down Danny. I'm sure she's safe – she whispered in an even quieter tone than the one they had been using before, given the fact that they were so close to the door still.

\- You heard the flush, he's gonna go after her! – he protested.

\- Yes, I heard it but it doesn't make any sense!

\- What? What are you talking about?

\- The flush came several minutes _after_ the gunshot was fired. They must have heard the shot and Steve knows better than to give away their position by making that kind of noise – she explained. It was the only logical explination she could find to the odd timing of the sound. That, or someone else had been in the bathroom as well and hadn't thought of being so careful.

\- Yeah, but Grace is a little girl. She wouldn't have thought of that!

\- Oh Danny, give her some credit! Besides, the moment the shot was fired, Steve would have gone inside to secure her. I'm sure the flush didn't come from them – Danny took a few deep breaths and tried to calm down his nerves. What Annabeth was saying made sense. He knew Steve, and he trusted him with his daughter's safety, but that didn't mean he could easily put his mind at easy knowing there were robbers with guns in the same building as his baby girl.

\- Okay. Okay. We need to call HPD. Alert Chin and Kono – he made a move to grab his phone.

\- Wait! – she whispered rapidly and guided him further into the room because she didn't like speaking so close to the door – they gathered every staff member of the museum, it's already past closing time and no one else is out there; even the guards were thrown in here. If we alert the police, they're gonna know someone in here did it. They could turn violent and start harming hostages.

\- We still need to tell someone! – he whispered back – what are we going to do? Wait here until they find whoever they're looking for and manage to get whatever they came here to get?

\- We could... – she said and hurried to explain her reasoning after watching the expression on Danny's face – we want to avoid a violent confrontation, so what better way to do it than to let them get what they want without any problems and then catch them as they leave thinking no one's onto them. That's what we could coordinate with Chin and Kono on the outside. Bring the police but keep them quiet. Whatever situation may arise in here, we can handle it.

\- Oh yeah? And how do you propose we do that? There are four of them and two of us. They have weapons... we don't, and only God knows where Steve and Grace are right now! – he was stating facts, very important and true facts. Neither Steve nor Danny had brought their guns into the museum because there was a strict policy of no firearms inside the place, (" _Tell that to the armed robbers just outside the door!_ ") even if they were the police; and so their service weapons had stayed locked into the glove compartment of their cars. But that didn't exactly mean they were defenseless.

\- Danny, look around! We're in a room full of weapons! – she said it like it was an obvious observation. He stared at her incredulously.

\- What!? – he whispered/yelled – you want to fight guns with swords!? Are you crazy!? And besides, half of this stuff is centuries old!

\- That doesn't make them any less effective. Besides – she added with a placating gesture from her hands – i'm just saying, in case something were to happen, we're not completely defenseless.

Just then, they heard the voice of the man who had gone to inspect the bathroom return accompanied by a voice they new all too well.

\- Easy man – said Steve. Annabeth and Danny quickly but quietly approached the door and saw Steve being pushed into the room.

\- You missed this one Donald! – the man barked at one of his accomplices and then turned to Steve, who had been scanning the faces of the people gathered around the oval room in search of them, and ordered – you! On the floor, phone out. Did you call any one?

\- No.

\- Did you call any one!? – the man repeated again.

\- No! Check my phone! – and he tossed it to him while kneeling on the floor. The man went through it searching for any sign that he could have alerted someone from the outside but finding nothing in it. The guy threw the phone to the floor hard enough to break it and then leaned into Steve's personal space.

\- If a single cop shows up, you're the first one to go – he said threateningly pointing his gun into his face.

Then, Annabeth turned to Danny, raising her eyebrows. Their odds had just been evened by a little bit and now they could cover the oval area from two different places.

The threat of what would happen if the police showed up was enough to get Danny on board with Annabeth's idea, although they would still need help from the outside. There was no questioning the fact that they had to call Chin and Kono to inform them of what was going on, but the question that was actually tearing him apart from the inside out was a completely different one... _where was Grace?_

 **There it is! Some action and planing in this chapter! So, we now know the museum is being robbed... it shouldn't be such a surprise right? I mean... two McGarretts in the same building can only mean trouble even in the most innocent of places!**

 **Well... let's see how they get out of this one! And... also... WHERE IS GRACE?**

 **Stay tuned to find out!**

 **Leave a review?**

 **Until next chapter!**


	4. Chapter 4

**I'm back with another chapter! I'm sorry it's taking so long to post every chapter, but I don't want to push the story and I haven't had a lot of time this week!**

 **I know this chapter is like super short, and that chapters in this story in general aren't that long either, but I hope you find it interesting enough!**

 **Time to bring some action to the table!**

 **Enjoy!**

This was not how he had wanted this day to go. Now he would never hear the end of his partner's ranting about him being at fault for the events that were currently taking place inside the museum.

The one day; actually, the last day of the exhibition at exactly the last hour of work, and the place gets taken by four armed men in creepy masks? Yeah, Danny was going to totally blame this on him.

Speaking of Danny... Where the hell was he? And where was Annabeth?

One of the reasons he had hidden Grace and then gotten caught leaving the bathroom on purpose was to find his team mates and make sure they were alright. There had been no possible way for him to leave the museaum with Grace without beeing seen because they would've had to pass right in front of the entrance to the big oval room to reach the front door of the museum.

So, as soon as he had heard the gunshot, he had gone inside the women's bathroom, not caring that he was actually going inside because of the nature of the emergency, to instruct Grace to finish her business quickly and not make any sound.

He supposed the place would be searched so his mind had switched from "Loving Uncle Steve" to "Overprotective Uncle Commander", quickly studying the bathroom searching for any places to hide Grace. He figured that leaving her inside one of the cubicles would be too risky; anyone could come in and register everyone of them. He needed to hide her where no one would think to look, and so his eyes had landed on the vent. It was the best place they could afford given the circumstances and so she had crawled inside with his help to lift her up and had promised not to make any noise or leave her hiding place until one of them came back for her. Then, he had flushed one of the toilets and waited a reasonable amount of time before stepping out of the room to make sure he would get caught while leaving.

The plan had worked. Shortly after the flushing noise, he went out and a few seconds later, a masked man carrying a gun had appeared from behind the corner and forced him to walk with him back to the oval room where he was now kneeling on the floor. He counted four attackers and something close to 20 hostages all aranged in a wide circle on the floor. Annabeth and Danny weren't upon them.

Where were they? They had been inside the weapon's room when he and Grace had left for the bathroom, and he had to assume the room had been cleared when the attackers had made their move. Could they have gone out in the amount of time between them leaving for the bathroom and the attack? He definitely hoped so, and his gaze went to the entrance of the weapons room also thinking that, maybe, they had managed to hide and were still inside.

His gaze returned to the apparent leader of the robbers who had started talking again.

\- I'm gonna ask again. Can anyone tell me where is Mr. Andrews? – he received no reply. The man let out a grunt of annoyance; he was getting tired of these people. The hit was supposed to be quick and the longer they stayed there, the greater the chance of the police finding out what was going on. Taking a decision in his mind, he turned to one of his men – Goofy, take that one – the man followed the order without a second thought and approached a child that had been clutching to his mother the entire time. The man bent down to pick him up and the woman started to go crazy.

\- NO! – she screamed – don't take him! Please! – the kid was crying now and the scene was getting worst and worst until the point the mother had to be hit across the face to get her to let go of the child. Steve wanted to jump right at the guy, but the gun now poining towards the little boy halted his intentions.

\- Now, listen up everybody... unless someone can give me some information about Mr. Andrews's whereabouts, i'm gonna start shooting this place up, starting with the little kid over here – he pressed the muzzle of the gun into the boy's right temple and he started crying even harder in fear. Steve couldn't take it anymore.

\- Who is Mr. Andrews? – he asked aloud with just the right amount of tremble in his voice to conceal the fact that he had dealt with situations like these before. He didn't want the bad guys finding out he was a cop yet.

\- Excuse me? – replied the guy.

\- Most of us don't work here and if you're going to threaten the life of a little kid then at least you could tell us who the hell are you asking for so we can say if we know where he is or not – the masked man walked towards him with the little kid still gripped firmly at his side and studied Steve's face with suspicion.

\- You don't seem very nervious, do you? – Steve dropped his gaze trying to look frightened. Maybe he had pushed it too much, too soon.

\- Look, I just want to get home with my family. I was asking so you could actually find what you want and leave us. No sense in anyone getting hurt, right? – if his face hadn't been obstructed with the mask, everyone could have seen the smug amused smile that crept up the robber's face.

\- You do have a point there – then he adressed the rest of the room – Mr. Andrews is the manager of the museum and he's supposed to have the key of the room where they keep the real exhibits. I want that key, so I want Mr. Andrews and nobody is getting home to their families until I get what I came looking for.

\- Alrigh then – said Steve softly – does anyone know where he is? Does anyone else have a key? – he asked the frightened crowd – if we give him what he wants, he'll let us go, right? – he directed the last bit of the question to the man still only a few feet away from him and the guy tilted his head in a real creepy way showing only the expression his mask permanently wore.

\- Right – was his curtly reply.

Steve focused his eyes on the staff members of the museum sitting to his left. If anyone knew anything about the museum manager or the keys, it had to be one of them; the visitors, like him, would have absolutely no idea who was who and who had what. He thought he recognized a middle age woman trying to supress the guilt and fear from her face. She was only half succeding.

\- I'm getting tired of this – said the man, throwing the kid on the floor and pointing his gun towards him in the typical stance that said he was going to shoot his victim. Steve tensed himself up, ready to launch between the gun and the kid since he was just at a jump's distance; but the colective scream of terror and surprise by what was about to happen, prompted the middle age woman to speak, shouting out what she knew in a desperate attempt to get the man with the gun to stop.

\- He left! Mr. Andrews left early because he got a call from his wife! – Steve closed his eyes half in defeat and half in annoyance. " _Well, this isn't good news_ " he thought. He opened them again when the masked man apprached the woman with a dangerous wave of his gun.

\- And why didn't you SAY SOMETHING!? – he asked in a shout, pointing his gun at her and making her shriek in fear.

\- I-I didn't want to upset y-you! I'm sorry! I'm sorry! I was scared! – she was crying now. He couldn't blame her; having a gun tossed at your face could be pretty intimidating.

\- And how am I supposed to open the vault now? I can't just come back another day! Someone else has to have the key. Who does? – he asked the lady.

\- N-no one – decided to answer the woman because he didn't want to aggravate the guy any further by staying quiet.

\- Who has the key!? – he asked again, stepping out of his bondaries and actually hitting the woman with the but of his gun. She went crashing all the way to the floor, holding her now bleeding forehead and crying in pain and fear – tell me who has another key! – the man made a move to hit her again but was interrupted by a harsh statement.

\- She already answered! No matter how many times you hit her the answer won't change! If you can't have what you came here for, I suggest you take a hike – finished Steve, satisfied because the man's focus was now on him and not on the poor woman on the floor. The guy came closer to him with just three long strikes and pointed the gun at his face. He was tired of this arrogant hostage and his untimely interruptions.

\- If you want to play knight and save the damsel in distress, then you have to gamble with the consequences – the sound of the safety being cliked off was the only warning everyone got before a shot was fired and the deafening sound left them all hearing a buzz in their ears.

Steve, not totally unprepared for the impulsive reaction of the man, actually flinched when the burn from the gunpowder hit his face from being fired so close to it and the room fell into an uncomfortable silence when a loud swear made it's way out of the stunned man's lips.

 **And there you have it. Anothe little piece of the story! Did you enjoy it? I hope you did! I look forward to reading a few reviews!**

 **I can't promise when i'll post next chapter... I also hope it won't take that long!**

 **Until next chapter!**


	5. Chapter 5

**Well... here's Chapter 5! I really like how this chapter turned out and it helped me a lot to let go of some anxiety in my mind... I enjoyed writing it ad I really hope you guys enjoy reading it!**

 **Last chapter left us with a cliffhanger... let's see how things turned out for Steve!**

 **Enjoy!**

Danny knew he was missing something. He had the feeling like when you're trying to remember something and that something is at the very tip of your tongue but the information just wouldn't come to mind. It was very frustrating.

They had been paying close attention to what was going on outside the weapon's room in the oval one where all the exhibits, the robbers and, most importantly, the hostages were.

He could tell that the masked man named Mickey was the leader of the four men crew. Was it possible that they were actually using their real names? It would be very stupid of them if they were; but again, so was the fact that they had decided to rob a museum without confirming that their primary target was inside. This Mr. Andrews character hadn't come forward yet, and no one had spoken a word as to who or where he was.

They had already contacted Chin and Kono explaining the situation inside the museum and their plan to take these bastards down without getting anyone hurt in the process. Chin had been reluctant at first, not without reason, but together they all came to an agreement that they would play things the robber's way to study them a bit more and determine if it would be safe to storm into the place with the whole weight of HPD behind them, or if that would only endanger the hostages even more.

Right until now, the four masked men had been cool. Well, as cool as one can be when committing a crime. "Until now" being the imperative words here. A few minutes ago, Mickey had begun to loose his cool and had decided to take one of the hostages as a hostage. " _Funny_ " Danny thought at the irony and absurdity of that image. His blood had boiled when the poor fella had been just a little boy no more than Grace's age.

When the event happened: the man named Goofy (what a stupid name) taking the boy from his mother, it had been during Danny's turn to peek through the entrance of the weapon's room and, although it wouldn't have been necessary because the screams were enough for anybody to get and idea of what was going on, he had turned around to explain to Annabeth the leader's sudden change of tactics.

He had received a worried face, followed by a deep-in-thought face and then a determined face as a way of answering. Yep, Annabeth also had faces. In reality, to him, everyone else had distinctive faces; him being so good at reading them had been an incredible asset throughout his career as a police officer and then a detective, but he thought only a few of those faces were worth naming and, after a year and a half working with his partner and a year working with Annabeth, he had categorized their faces as "Names Worthy". It was weird how much the two resembled eachother but instead of giving it much thought, he had just summed up all their simmilarities to habits picked up along the way of living together.

When he brought his mind back to his suroundings, he noticed Annabeth studying one of the tables that showed all the different kinds of knives and daggers. She had her nose almost touching the table and he could swear it looked like she was trying to sniff the things. He came closer to her.

\- What the hell are you doing? – he asked, still in the same hushed tone they had both been using to comunicate.

\- Searching for an alarm – she answered and continued to inspect every edge of the table and then every item itself. Satisfied she didn't see any sensor or any other type of device that could trigger an alarm, she reached out to take one of the knives.

\- Whoa! Wait! – her hand was halted midway by another one – really, what are you doing?

\- Grabbing a knife. We need to be ready for anything to happen and that guy is starting to loose control.

\- What about the alarms and the security system? – Danny voiced his immediate concern because having an alarm blaring on top of their heads wouldn't bring anything good for them.

\- I don't think these exhibits have alarm sensors and, if they do, i think the alarm was turned off.

\- How could you possibly know that?

\- Remember the crash we heard right before the gunshot? – she asked as a way of explanation and continued when she received an affirmative nod from Danny – it was one of the exhibits. You can see the broken glass near the door of the oval room. That thing fell or was pushed by someone and no alarm went off. I'm thinking maybe it was a test to see if the alarm had been disabled – he thought about it for a moment.

\- That would definitely confirm what i was suspecting.

\- And what's that? – she questioned.

\- This has to be some kind of inside job – she looked at him puzzled and he proceeded to explain his theory – well, they hit the place on the only day it closes earlier than normal and they do it when it's about to close down for the night. That guarantees less people inside to control.

\- Yeah, but that doesn't necessarily means it's an inside job. Anyone could search the museum's schedule online – she thought.

\- Agreed, but how did they get past the metal detector by the front door? – she tried to argue again that it was actually possible to do it, but he didn't give her the time – and they asked for this Andrews guy by name. They knew he would have the key to the vault. And there's also the thing with the alarm. One would think that an exhibit falling and crashing on the floor would have set them off. It's all just too convenient – they could hear Steve's voice talking calmly in the background asking where the man in question was.

It does make sense – suddenly, a collective gasp and a few shrieks could be heard from the outside.

They made their way to the door and could see the temperature of the room had risen to even more dangerous. The leader of the masked men was pointing his gun directly at the boy on the floor and his whole demeanor read intent all over it. He was ready to shoot the kid.

He was stopped by a woman confessing to know where the famous Mr. Andrews was, and Annabeth knew it was now or never. Things had escalated and they couldn't afford to keep waiting on the sidelines to see the train hit the end of the road. In this case, the end of the road was Mr. Andrews not being inside the museum.

Making up her mind, she went back to the table with the knives and just picked one up, not giving Danny the time to even realize what was happening until it was too late. When he reached her, they both stood holding their breaths and waiting for the blaring sound of an alarm to start making its way into existance, but the place remained utterly quiet. Well, as quiet as it could be with people screaming and demanding information at the top of their lungs on the other side of the room.

They both released the air from their lungs and Annabeth quickly kept picking up knives. She was checking their edges to choose the sharpest and most effective ones, handing a few to Danny. They were both impressed by the well preserved state of the weapons because, if you just pressed with a little bit more force than you normally would, the knives could indeed draw blood and, if necessary, they would sunk into flesh.

Then, a flash of thought crossed Annabeth's mind and she whirled around searching for the first thing she and Grace and noticed upon entering the room: the bow. She walked all the way to it with a distinctive glee in her eyes. One look at them and Danny knew she had gotten a crazy idea.

Since they had already checked for alarms, she was sure she could just open the lid of the cristal box and extract the weapon. If the knives were as preserved as they were, maybe the bow could still work and that would give them an advantage. It wasn't like having a gun, but in terms of long distance weapons, it was a close second considering their circumstances right now.

She inhaled a big breath and opened the box. Nothing changed. Danny had already walked all the way to her by the time she was throughoutly inspecting the bow. She tested the flexibility of the wooden arc, the strenght of the rope and the range of the pull.

Something was off.

It was too good to be true. The wood was polished to perfection, the flexibility was minimal and the rope didn't make much of a sound when pulled all the way back. One would expect a very, very old bow to be in worst conditions no matter how well preserved it was: the wood would have been more flexible due to years and years of exposure, the rope would have creaked more due to lack of use in the recent past and the surface wouldn't be so smooth. She even smelled the thing: paint.

She glanced at the next exhibit and found again the replica of Excalibur and the stone and then it clicked. The bow was a replica too!

The description right underneath the cristal box didn't say anything about the bow being a replica or a modern construction looking like the ones from history; but right now, she couldn't bring herself to care. A replica meant a newer bow and a newer bow meant it had a greater chance of being functional. For a final test, she tensed the bow as far as it went with as much strenght as she new she would need to actually fire an arrow, and the bow held. Perfect.

She reached inside the box again and pulled out the quiver of arrows. They weren't original either. " _Oh well!_ " she thought. There would be plenty of time to be dissapointed at the museum later. Right now, it was time to save it.

Danny had been watching Annabeth's inspection of the bow with wonder. The expression on her face was something between amazement and passion. She was definetly looking at it and handling it with tender care and doing all kinds of tests with expert hands. Something that hadn't gone unnoticed by the detective.

\- You actually know how to use this, don't you? – he asked, more like stating a fact. Her face broke out into a grin.

\- Oh yeah! – she put the strap of the quiver over her head and hung it into her back. She had a couple of knives between the waistband of her jeans and now she was holding the bow with one hand while with the other one she fished an arrow from her back. The sight was like something out of a fantasy movie and Danny thought it fit well with the theme of the exhibition.

\- How do you know the bow will work?

\- I just know – was her simple reply while she walked back closer to the door. Danny could also recognize that she had slipped on the smug mask she wore when she was about to engage in something dangerous. It was the same attitude he had hated when they had first met but it was also an attitude he had grown to respect. It was her way of dealing with danger and who has he to judge that? It brought results, good results. And so he followed her to the door to keep observing and be ready if anything were to heppen.

Outside, masked Mickey was still questioning the poor woman who had naively decided to conceal what she knew about the manager's whereabouts. He was getting more and more aggresive as the seconds ticked by and they figured it would be just a matter of time before either them or Steve stepped out and decided to intervene.

Right then, Danny decided to inform their backup on the outside of how the situation was quickly getting worse and that the robbers wouldn't be able to leave the museum with what they wanted. That meant it was time to involve the cops and start the procedure on hostage negociation.

Only, apparently, they wouldn't have much time.

Right after sending the message, they heard Steve speaking up defending the woman on the floor and the rather obvious threat of the masked man.

Danny and Annabeth tensed up in anticipation but her mind switched automatically and she reacted to the events unfolding before her. She rapidly put the arrow she had been holding with her right hand in the middle of the bow and gripped the rope to pull back.

She tensed the weapon and aimed. It was time to find out if she wasn't too out of practice and if the bow would come true.

Noticing her intentions, Danny asked one more time if she was sure of what she was doing and if she actually knew what she was doing. One miscalculated shot and anybody could get hurt, including Steve, whose face was now only inches away from the gun pointed at it.

\- Watch and learn – was her final reply as she breathed in, held her breath for only a second and then fired, releasing not only a deep controled breath but a deadly arrow as well.

 **So? What did you think? Did you like it? I really hope you did! I would really love to see what you guys think so feel free to leave a review!**

 **Tomorrow's a working day so I shouldn't stay up too late writing... but I think i'll keep working on next chapter just a little bit longer!**

 **Thank you all for your patience and support!**

 **Until next chapter!**


	6. Chapter 6

**Hello there! First of all I want to say SORRY for taking this long to update the story… in my defense, I started the University and a new job and these past two weeks have been totally hectic… I tried several times to sit down and write but I was just too tired or didn't have time.**

 **But today I finally managed to sit down long enough to finish this chapter and, with it the story.**

 **Yes… this is the final chapter of this story! I know it's a super short story but let's say it was a way to blow off some steam and to lighten up the mood after my previous stories before going on about the major storyline presented since the beginning…**

 **I really hope you have like this story so far and that you like the chapter as well… remember to let me know what you think!**

 **Enjoy!**

In spite of being prepared for it, Steve couldn't help but close his eyes and flinch at the exact moment the gun was fired. He had been so sure the guy had been aiming at his forehead that he couldn't understand why he was still alive and well, if not a little deaf by the vicinity of the gunshot and his left cheek a bit red by the burn of it. He decided to open his eyes by the time the masked man let out a series of profanities.

\- Where the hell did that come from?! – he asked/yelled while clutching his bleeding and gunless hand. Steve followed his gaze and saw the weapon laying on the floor a few feet away from them with a wooden arrow nearby. He looked again at Mickey, the masked man, and focused on his hand. His fingers were bleeding from a few cuts and he could only stare in amazement at what had happened. The raging man turned to one of his men – Donald! I thought you had cleared everyone! Who did that? Check that room again! – Mickey ordered signaling to the entrance of the weapons room.

When his eyes landed again on the gun that only moments before had been pointed at him, he had a little debate with himself whether to make a move for it or not.

Having a gun would definitely improve his situation and now, more than ever, was the perfect time to do so because everyone was looking in the direction the arrow had come from and Mickey was too busy holding his injured hand and shouting at his men.

The momentarily discarded weapon lay so temptingly within arm's reach that he had already and unconsciously begun to move towards it. But he knew, that even with the aid of a gun he would still be greatly outnumbered, not to mention the number of hostages that were spread around the room and could so easily become collateral damage.

So, should he just go for it or should he wait for backup like his partner always liked to remind him? And _where_ exactly was his backup was a complete mystery. Did Danny and Annabeth have a plan? If he knew one thing for certain about Annabeth it was how much she liked to make plans.

Usually her ideas would come in handy; but some of the time her plans and ideas were so crazy and dangerous that he still couldn't quite understand why Danny kept calling him a danger magnet or a danger to civilized society. It must just be a habit.

His thoughts were abruptly interrupted when Mickey screamed at the guy names Donald again to go search the weapons room faster because, by the angle, the arrow seemed to have been fired rom that general direction.

But, who would have such good aim? The gun had been ripped away from the man's hand exactly when he had pulled the trigger, changing the trajectory of the bullet and effectively saving his life.

Could an employee of the museum be trained enough to do that? Did Annabeth and Danny had anything to do with it?

Well, if they were somehow inside the weapons room, he was about to find out because Donald was already on his way.

He tensed himself up in anticipation because if there was people inside that room, things were about to get ugly.

He glanced between the gun on the floor near him and the entrance to the adjoining room deciding to wait at least another minute before making up his mind.

… … …

The moment she fired the arrow, Annabeth and Danny ducked inside the room again. She only had time to make sure her target had been hit before she flattened herself against the wall on one side of the door right next to Danny. She knew it had been close. If she hadn't fired the arrow at the exact moment she had, Steve would have been dead. Well… she would remind him of that later; right now, they had other problems to attend to.

Donald would walk into the room any second now following the leader's orders and they didn't have time to go hide behind any of the exhibits. She glanced at Danny and when he gave her confirmation of contact with Chin, she nodded and prepared to act. If thing went according to the plan, HPD plus Chin and Kono would be making an entrance soon.

She reached behind her back to grab another arrow and tense the bow while pointing at the door; Danny took his position on the other side of it and waited for the incoming company.

The very second the guy stepped into the room he found himself with the tip of an arrow touching his throat. Annabeth muttered the words for him to stay quiet while Danny creeped behind him and taking his gun away with one hand, he put his arm around the man's neck and trapped him on a choke hold. This wasn't one of his favorite techniques but when it was necessary he would do it without hesitation.

When the guy was unconscious, they set his body carefully on the floor and set him aside. Now the bad guys were one man down and so that made three against three. They just needed to get Steve on board of the plan as well.

Danny took possession of the man's gun and peeked outside the door. The other masked men, except the leader, where stepping closer to the weapons room because they were getting suspicious of the lack of news from their teammate; just as predicted. The idea was to divide the bad guys into two groups: one close to Steve and one close to them so they could all take care of the problem.

\- Hey Donald, you done? – came the muffled voice of one of the approaching guys – Boss he's not answering!

\- Well, what are you waiting for? Get inside and find out what the hell is going on! And if you see somebody just shoot them! - Mickey answered back, earning a few gasps of surprise and fear from the hostages at hearing the word shoot.

… … …

Suddenly, Steve knew. Danny and Annabeth were still inside and they were doing everything they could to fight off the attackers, so he had to help them.

It was time for a distraction.

\- I wouldn't go in there if I were you – he stated calmly, making everyone focus on him and also making the masked men who had been getting closer and closer to the weapons room turn to him.

\- What? – asked Mickey, who had again stepped closer to him, still clutching his hand. This time, Steve gave up any pretenses that he was just a scared hostage.

\- Like I said. I don't think it's in your best interest to go in there – he repeated with a somewhat satisfied smile.

\- And why the hell is that?! – he took a step closer.

\- For starters, the moment they go in all blazing guns, they're gonna get their asses kicked and maybe end up dead. If they want to still be breathing by the end of the day, I suggest they stay right where they are, just two feet from the door and with their backs turned to it – when they heard Steve's voice from outside the room, they knew he had caught up to their intentions and was relying information for them to act – and you, my friend, are gonna be stuck with me.

\- AND JUST WHO ON EARTH ARE YOU? – Mickey asked beyond angry.

\- I'm Five-0 – Steve said and then made a move for the weapon on the floor.

Hearing Steve give up is identity, Danny and Annabeth took that as a signal to act. If the approaching two masked men were only a few feet away from the door and with their backs turned to them, it would be easy to subdue them.

Glancing at each other with determination on their faces, they stepped outside with their weapons drawn: one a very old bow and the other one, a very modern gun.

Danny pressed the barrel of his gun to the neck of the man in the right while Annabeth did the same with the arrow to one on the left.

\- Five-0! Don't move! – ordered Danny – drop your gun and get down on the ground – he said calmly.

\- You too! – said Annabeth to the man in front of her.

In front of them, they could see Steve moving to his left.

Steve picked up the gun from the floor quickly and in one swift move he got up from his knees and pointed the weapon to Mickey's face; well… mask. The man halted in his track because once he had realized what was happening he had remembered his gun and had intended to get it back, not realizing that Steve had been already on his way to get it.

\- On your knees! On your knees! – he ordered using his full Commander voice.

By the time all the attackers where on the floor and free of weapons, HPD barged into the room followed by Chin and Kono in full combat gear.

\- HPD! Get down on the ground! Down on the…! - but the officer didn't finish his order because he realized that the people they were supposed to apprehend had already been subdued. Steve gave the order to arrest the attackers and remove their masks while Danny directed a couple of officers to retrieve the last man from the weapons room. Then he instantly turned to his partner.

\- Steve! Where's Grace? Where is she? – fear had again creeped up his voice for not knowing where her little girl was during the whole madness.

\- In the bathroom. Come on – Steve answered and they both ran towards the place Grace was hiding in.

\- Grace! GRACE! – Danny yelled when he went into the bathroom and turning around in a circle when he didn't see her anywhere – Steve where is she? – Steve knew his partner was terribly worried so he tried to calm him down.

\- Don't worry, she's safe – then he turned to the vent – Grace, honey, it's okay to come out. It's over now – they heard movement on the other side of the vent and the entrance came loose. Danny quickly ran to her and helped her out while hugging him tightly to him.

\- Are you okay Monkey? Are you hurt? Are you alright? – he asked while checking her over.

\- I'm okay Danno – she answered a little shyly and hugging her father again. Then Danny turned to Steve.

\- What were you thinking leaving her alone like this!? – he asked.

\- Danny, I…

\- You should have stayed with her!

\- Danny! I couldn't hide on the vent with her and they would have found me. The best thing I could do for her was lead them away from her! We would have been seen if we had tried to leave and I couldn't leave you guys… - but Danny interrupted him.

\- I know! I know! – he said while setting Grace on the floor and kneeling in front of her – I know. I'm sorry, I just… - Steve took a breath and came closer to them, putting a hand on his partner's shoulder and one on top of Grace's head.

\- I know – and Steve _did_ know how much the thought of anything happening to Grace scared the living hell out of Danny, because it also scared the living hell out of him – Come on. Let's go.

They got out of the bathroom and returned to the entrance hall that was now flooding with HPD officers that were starting to lead the hostages away and a few paramedics checking on the people that had been hit during the attack to the museum.

When they got closer to the oval room, they could hear a heated argument taking place between Annabeth and a woman wearing the museum staff uniform. Danny took a greater hold of Grace's hand and the three of them made their way towards the small group. Chin and Kono where behind Annabeth watching the confrontation and ready to act if the situation called for it.

\- How could you have used so carelessly such antique pieces of history?! – the staff member was asking by the time Danny, Steve and Grace made it all the way to them.

\- Antique pieces of history? This bow is a fake! It's a replica. It's not the real thing!

\- But the knives! They're original and hey should be treated with extreme care. You never should have picked them up!

\- Oh! I'm sorry! Next time a group of barbarians come in here to rob you, I'll just walk away and let them be! – Annabeth answered back.

\- That's still no excuse to… - but the woman didn't get to finish her sentence because she was interrupted by Chin who could see Annabeth was starting to get too worked up and she was still clutching a very effective bow in her hands.

\- Alright, alright Ms. Kiota. Why don't you accompany this nice HPD officer so he can take your statement? – he said while he started to lead her away.

\- Fine! But I'm gonna mention how this girl disregarded the museum's rules and protocols!

\- You do that – Chin answered right back with a condescending tone. He was glad to get rid of the woman when the HPD officer took her away. Then, he came back to where the team was standing.

\- Can you believe her? – asked Annabeth still angry about the woman's accusations – we just saved her life and all she cares about is the stupid knives! – she waved her right hand around to point on the general direction where the woman had just left.

\- Whoa! Careful with that! – said Kono who had to step aside because Annabeth's right hand was still holding into an arrow.

\- So you actually shot that arrow? – Steve asked Annabeth, trying to get her mind off track.

\- If I hadn't seen it, I wouldn't have believed it – said Danny – but she did.

\- That's so cool! – added Grace – can you teach me?

\- Of course! We just need…

\- Nothing! You need nothing because you, young lady, won't be getting anywhere near a deadly weapon like that in your life – Danny said speaking very seriously to Grace.

\- But Danno! – she whined.

\- Come on Danno. You never know when it can come in handy – intervened Steve. Danny just rolled his eyes.

\- How many times do I have to tell you not to call me that? And I would appreciate it if you didn't encourage my daughter to use devices that could potentially inflict harm.

\- But Annabeth just saved my life with it, so it's not all that bad.

\- This matter is closed. We're not discussing this anymore – Danny said with finality but when Grace turned to look at Annabeth, she received a wink from the older girl.

\- How did you learn to shoot like that, by the way? – Kono asked her because she was still impressed at the scene everyone had described about an arrow shooting the masked man's gun away from him.

\- I had a really good teacher – Annabeth answered while reaching the quiver of arrows from behind her back and puling it over her head. She looked then at the items in her hands with a look that could have passes as nostalgic, but then she quickly changed it for a bright smile – I had forgotten how good it felt to use this. I hadn't done it in years!

\- Wait! – said Steve – you hadn't used a bow in years before shooting that arrow?

\- Nope!

\- But the gun was inches from my face! What if you had missed? – he asked, paling a little bit at the thought of how close the arrow had been from embedding on his skull.

\- Well… I didn't.

\- Yeah, but you could have!

\- Just be glad I didn't! – she spat back wanting to drop the matter because she really didn't want to think in what would have happened if she had missed.

\- Fine!

Everyone watched the exchange between the two members of the team. It was strange how the two of them interacted; sometimes perfectly agreeing on things and then other times getting into stupid little arguments that never lasted more than a minute (unlike the arguments Steve and Danny where know to held. They could last up until days). It had always been amusing how the young girl could stand up to the tough SuperSEAL and sometimes (most of the time) end up winning. Danny specially liked it when that happened.

\- Okay! Who's ready to get out of here? I'm starving! – he asked.

\- I think that's a good idea – said Chin – who's in for some pizza?

\- I AM! – came the high pitched reply from Grace. Everyone laughed at her enthusiasm.

\- Sound's great! – said Kono.

\- Sure – added Annabeth.

\- Let's get going then – Danny picked up Grace from the floor and carried her out of the museum with everyone following behind. HPD could handle the rest of the scene by themselves. There had been no casualties, nothing had actually been robbed and all the attackers had been arrested. Piece of cake – Oh! And, by the way… Never are we ever going to go to a museum ever again!

\- Oh Danno! – said Grace while rolling her eyes and laughing. She knew the statement had been coming ever since that shot had sounded and Uncle Steve had hidden her in the vent. She also knew the statement was a lie since he had said the same thing about football games and they had already gone to all the games of the season.

\- I'm serious this time! No more knives, bows, swords or dragons! They can stay in the movies…

Everyone laughed and pretty soon the subject of discussion within the group changed to what type of pizza they were going to order from Steve's house while they were walking towards their respective cars. Annabeth and Danny exchanged a look of complicity because they knew that if they wanted to be able to enjoy their dinner, they had to get to the phone first and make sure there were at least a couple of pizzas free of pineapple.

As always, Chin and Steve would delight themselves on the fruit covered sacrilege while Grace and Kono would go even beyond measure and add tuna to the thing.

By the end of the night, the incidence at the museum had already begun to be a fun story to tell and the source of a lot of laughter among the pizza overdosed team. To put it in Danny's way: if they got a dollar every time they found themselves in impossibly absurd situations, they could all retire young.

As the night wore off and the get together got to an end, everyone headed home. And, Annabeth, just before she went into her room was halted by Steve.

\- Thanks – he said – for what you did.

\- No problem – she smiled – what are friends for, right? Good night! – and she closed the door.

\- Right…

He stood staring at the door for a few seconds before heading to his own room.

He was going to have to tell her soon.

He just didn't know how…

 **Aaaannnnndddd DONE! I know the ending is a little bit off, but I hope it leaves the window open for the subject of my next story which will hopefully be the one where Steve tells Annabeth the truth. Are you excited to find out how it happens? ME TOO! Hahahaha I'm kidding… I already know how it happens… I'm just really excited to get to write it.**

 **I really did try a little bit of humor in this story and it was always meant to be short… just a little episode on the lives of our characters but, to tell you the truth, I'm excited to go back to writing drama! It's just such a release mechanism for me and I think my best scenes are the ones filled with it.**

 **I'm not sure when I'll start writing this new story but now that I'm more used to the new routine I have with work and the University, I may be able to start soon and not wait too long before posting chapters. I can't promise anything but be assured that I always have this stories in my mind and the urge to write them!**

 **Also, i know there still a story unfinished (Unexpected Events) which was the very first story i posted introducing the OC Character of Annabeth. I really don't know why i can't bring myself to finish it. I think there's only one more chapter left to do it and i PROMISE i will finish it... i just don0t know when :/**

 **That being said, I guess we'll see each other when the next story arrives! I would really love to read your comments about this story and what do you think will happen on the next one… anyone care to guess how does Steve tell Annabeth the truth?**

 **Well… until next time!**


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